


Gentle

by nhasablog



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Tickling, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, and a lot of tickles, ticklish tony
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-28
Updated: 2017-03-28
Packaged: 2018-10-12 04:27:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,558
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10482063
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nhasablog/pseuds/nhasablog
Summary: “Go on,” Steve urged him softly. “I won’t judge.”“Just…be gentle? I think I just need to laugh and feel good. Not get completely wrecked.”Steve understood what he meant. “No teasing, then?”Tony nodded. “No teasing, as nice as it usually is.”(Or, Tony is feeling a little down after a mission and asks Steve to give him gentle tickles rather than rough ones.)





	

Steve’s body was aching. It wasn’t overwhelmingly bad, but the dull pain that shot through his limbs was annoying and a slightly too big of a reminder of a life full of chronic pain that he’d left behind him. He glanced at Tony as they entered their bedroom. If he was in pain he couldn’t imagine how Tony might be feeling.

“Are you hurt?” he asked once they’d shut the door behind them.

Tony shook his head. “Nah. The suit took all the beating. I promise,” he added at Steve’s skeptical look.

Steve didn’t say anything, but he didn’t take his eyes off of him as they started undressing. Tony never winced once, and Steve couldn’t find a single trace of oncoming bruises on his body, so he reckoned the genius was speaking the truth regarding his well being for once.

He sighed in relief, one hand coming up to mess up his sweaty hair. He already felt better than he had just a few minutes ago, but he could really do with a shower. “Want to join me?” he asked as he took an indicating step toward their bathroom.

Tony looked up from where he was trying to remove his socks and shook his head. “You go ahead. You deal with more physical labor during missions anyway.”

“Suit yourself.”

Tony snorted as his pun and Steve disappeared into the bathroom with a smirk.

He felt pretty much recovered once the hot water hit his skin, but he couldn’t bring himself to hurry up and spent at least fifteen minutes in there, even though he knew he could finish up in five if he really wanted to. Stepping out of the steam with a towel around his waist that purely served the purpose of a conversation starter when Tony would inevitably ask him to drop it because “I’ve seen it all already, Cap”, Steve reentered the bedroom and flinched at the cold air that greeted him. He had to stop showering in scalding water dammit.

Tony was on the bed, though not under the covers. He was wearing a MIT t-shirt and Captain America shorts that Clint had gotten him as a joke only to have it backfire when he discovered that Tony would gladly wear it around the Tower. Steve had to pause when he realized that Tony didn’t just look tired, but looked absolutely exhausted.

“Tony?”

Tony looked at him, a tiny, almost nonexistent smile finding his face. “Yes, dear?”

“Are you all right?”

Tony exhaled loudly, slowly. “Not sure. I think this mission is catching up on me.”

People had gotten hurt. _A lot_ of people. That fact always ended up haunting them afterwards, especially if you knew you could’ve done something had you been at a particular place just seconds earlier. Tony, who had stumbled into the superhero world unintentionally and had no training when it came to being a soldier or an agent or even a spy, was usually the one to take it the hardest.

Steve dropped his towel, but only so that he could get dressed quickly. “It wasn’t your fault,” he said as he pulled on his boxers. He didn’t know the specifics, but Tony was probably beating himself up for something.

Tony didn’t reply, and Steve opened his drawer and grabbed the first things he could find. Tony barely raised an eyebrow at his bright yellow shorts that he claimed clashed awfully with his complexion, but he did comment on Steve’s shirt. “Should I feel offended?”

Steve glanced down at his Batman shirt and shot him a sheepish smile. “Nat got it for me.”

“We need to get the murder spouses to stop buying us things.”

Steve hopped onto the bed and attached himself to Tony’s side. They were still above the covers. “Do you want to talk?”

“Not really,” Tony said, and Steve didn’t miss the way his face suddenly colored. “Though…”

“What?”

The way Tony shifted awkwardly gave Steve a hunch of what he was about to ask for. “Can you…you know.” He waved his hands around, his fingers wiggling in the process in a way that Steve only caught due to his fantastic eyesight.

“Tickle you?”

Tony nodded quickly, his gaze anywhere but on Steve. “Uh huh.”

“Of course I can.” It wasn’t a new discovery that Tony liked being tickled, but Tony still acted as if he didn’t ask for it at least once a week. It was both endearing and hilarious. Steve sat up. “Any requests?” he asked jokingly, and was thoroughly surprised when Tony nodded.

“Yes, actually.”

“Oh? Let’s hear them.”

Tony’s face could probably catch fire with how much he was blushing. “Can you go easy on me? I don’t mean that you let me escape once I start fighting back, but-” He cut himself off and barked out a laugh. “God, this is embarrassing.”

“Go on,” Steve urged him softly. “I won’t judge.”

“Just…be gentle? I think I just need to laugh and feel good. Not get completely wrecked.”

Steve understood what he meant. “No teasing, then?”

Tony nodded. “No teasing, as nice as it usually is.”

“Got it. Any particular spots you want me to focus on?”

Tony would probably pass out from how red his face was, and Steve only felt a little bad for him. “My stomach?”

“Got it. Lean back and enjoy my giggle inducing fingers.”

Tony was laughing before he’d even started.

Steve perched himself on Tony’s hips and didn’t waste any time before diving right in. He let his fingertips trace Tony’s lower stomach, the material of his t-shirt dampening the sensation only a little bit. Tony’s still free hands twitched, but he kept them at his sides, his grip of the covers becoming tighter by the second. His giggles were low, but audible.

A smile found Steve’s face as he moved upward and felt Tony’s tummy jump under his touch. Out of all the sensitive places on Tony’s body - and there were a lot of them - his stomach was the worst, which was why Steve loved that Tony loved having it be tickled the most. It was always so easy to throw him into hysterics if you focused on that spot.

“You doing okay?” Steve asked as Tony’s laughter got louder.

“Yehehes,” Tony replied, his eyes crinkling with ticklish mirth. “My hahahands.”

“You want me to trap them?”

“Yehehes.”

Steve obliged and grabbed them both swiftly and pinned them under his knees. Tony was usually able to keep himself from pushing him away for longer, but Steve figured he wanted to just enjoy the playful torture without having to focus on anything else. He didn’t blame him.

Once Steve reached his ribs he let his fingers dance over them for a moment before moving back down, and this was when he would usually pick up his speed and tickle him harder, but Tony hadn’t placed his wish upon deaf ears, so Steve’s fingers kept trailing over the skin in a gentle manner, touching more than tickling. It was enough to keep Tony laughing anyway.

“Shihihit,” Tony cried as Steve’s index finger kept circling around his belly button lightly. “This is awfuhuhul!”

“But you love it, don’t you?” Steve couldn’t help but ask, though he tried to keep his teasing tone at bay.

“I dohoho.”

“Good. You’re doing a great job,” he said, racking his brain for comments that wouldn’t be perceived as playful. Tony usually prefered being teased. “You’re being so good,” he continued as he spidered his fingers over Tony’s abdomen.

Tony seemed delighted by his comments actually, which delighted him. Steve knew Tony had a hard time accepting a compliment that had nothing to do with his brain or occasionally his good looks, so Steve had tried to incorporate it into his life slowly yet surely. It couldn’t hurt reminding him of how great he was right now either.

“You’re so beautiful,” he told him as Tony’s laughter slowed down a bit when Steve went for a slightly less ticklish spot. “Just absolutely wonderful. Did you know that? What a stupid question. Of course you did.”

He couldn’t properly see it, but he was pretty sure Tony was flushing happily underneath his already red face. The knowledge made Steve grin, and he had to lean down and press a kiss to Tony’s lips and let him giggle into his mouth.

Tony started struggling after a while. Seeing as Steve was being gentle he didn’t tire out as quickly as usually, so his escape attempts were surprisingly good, but of course Steve and his strength were better. In the end, Tony was begging him to stop before finally blurting out their safe word, and Steve backed off immediately and settled down beside him.

“You okay?” he asked as Tony took breath after breath after breath.

“Yeah,” he choked out, a residual laugh accompanying the word. “Thank you.”

“There’s no need to thank me, Tony.”

“I know. Thank you.”

Steve smiled and Tony smiled, and when they eventually ended up beneath the covers Steve wasn’t aching anywhere anymore; as if the fight had never happened. He could only hope Tony was experiencing a similar relief, though he was sure that wasn’t entirely the case. Tony still sighed contently when Steve pulled him closer, so he reckoned it was close enough for now.

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on [tumblr](http://nhasablog.tumblr.com)


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